Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of emotional appeals in advertisements for loans and explored consumers’ perceptions of advertisements featuring such appeals in order to explore how emotional meanings are transferred to consumers via advertising. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 employed content analysis to examine the use of emotional appeals in loan advertisements. Over 2,900 editions of eight British newspapers were monitored for advertisements for loans containing emotional appeals. Study 2 employed 33 semi-structured interviews to explore consumers’ perceptions of emotional appeals in loan advertisements. Findings Loans were positioned as services providing relief, security and excitement. The use of negative emotional appeals such as guilt, fear and sorrow was sporadic. Loans that carried the most risk were advertised with positive emotional appeals the most frequently. Five dimensions of perceptions of emotional loan advertisements were conceptualised from the reported data in Study 2. Originality/value This is the first study in the UK to examine the use of emotional appeals in loan advertising and to explore consumers’ perceptions of loan advertisements featuring emotional appeals. The study identified five dimensions of perceptions of emotional appeals.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse the use of emotional appeals in business-to-business (B2B) bank advertisements and to understand business owners’ perceptions of such appeals. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1,834 print advertisements collected from British newspapers were content analysed. In Study 2, semi-structured interviews with 17 business owners operating a business current account with a British bank were carried out. Findings Emotional appeals are embedded in B2B financial services advertisements, and business owners acknowledge the presence of emotional appeals; however, the perceived congruency between emotional appeal and financial services could not be established as participants reported a largely utilitarian, need- and benefit-driven decision-making process. Research limitations/implications Accurately measuring emotions aroused through advertisements is considered a limitation. In addition, the sample of participants considered for this research project was small and medium-sized business owners. Practical implications Emotional appeals should be used in conjunction with detailed rational information about financial products, as emotional appeals only arouse interest. Relationship is considered crucial in capitalising on the emotionally appealing advertisements. Customers must feel appreciated and loyalty should be rewarded. Originality/value The paper responds to numerous calls for more research into the role of emotional influences on the relationships in a B2B context and on the behaviour of business customers.

What explains why some consumers believe their individual consumption choices impact the natural environment, social issues, and employee well‐being and others do not? This study examines the moderating role of global and local social identities on the relations between cultural values of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism, and perceived consumer effectiveness. Data were collected from 432 respondents in Poland. Individuals who report high values of vertical individualism and high vertical collectivism believe their individual purchase decisions impact the natural environment, social and community issues and employee welfare. It is the acceptance of responsibility for oneself (vertical individualism) and others (vertical collectivism) that explains why some people believe their consumption choices affect wider societal and environmental issues. Global identity strengthens this for vertical individualists, and local identity strengthens this for vertical collectivists. We provide evidence that the conceptual distinction between horizontal and vertical orientations of individualism and collectivism matters when explaining perceived consumer effectiveness. The study confirms that global and local social identities are meaningful variables in the context of perceived consumer effectiveness. The concept of value congruence explains the hypothesised relations only partially. The study contributes to the literature on consumer behaviour in the context of the post‐transitional economy of Poland.

The results suggest that advertisers can draw on national cultures for cultural meanings to be used in advertisements only to a limited extent. It may be that advertisements mold rather than mirror societal values, or that only certain cultural traits are important for advertisers. GLOBE dimensions may therefore be of limited use when analyzing and explaining the content of advertisements.

Although the term “ethnic group” (EG) is often used in social studies, its definition differs among researchers. Moreover, little is known about ordinary people’s subjective understanding of this term, even though it is often used in social discourse. We examined this issue in a cross-sectional study of 273 American, British, Mexican, and Polish students using an open-ended questions approach. Results revealed cultural differences in patterns of “ethnic group” definitions across the four countries. U.S. respondents predominantly connected EG to “race”; British participants frequently related it to “race,” but more often to “common culture” and “customs/traditions.” Both latter categories were overwhelmingly dominant in Mexico and Poland. However, “nation,” “shared history,” “religion,” “language,” and “territory” were also very popular as EG understandings in Poland. Although most participants used the newer definition of EG (referring to all groups in a society, including minority and majority groups), a few in each country used the term only to refer to minorities and people different from themselves (an older, “minus one” definition). Unexpected definitions of EG also appeared (e.g., people having similar hobbies, having similar work goals, or living in the same city). The results also indicate that for the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico, “ethnic group” was more a subgroup within a nation, whereas in Poland, they represented the same level of categorization. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.